EbergFeb 22, 2023
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Here's an uncomfortable American history fact. While folks often point out that after Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler refused to shake his hand.

But what happened next? Well, after returning home, Owens & 17 other Black Olympians were denied an invite to the White House. Instead, President Roosevelt only invited white Olympians. And it wasn't until 2016 that the White House finally apologized and invited their descendants to the WH.

2016.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Feb 22, 2023 at 8:37pmWeb
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganFeb 22, 2023

@QasimRashid *Hitler didn’t snub me—it was our president who snubbed me…The president didn’t even send me a telegram. Jesse Owens on FDR declining to invite him and other Black Olympic athletes to the White House.*

Running Against the World, White House Historical Assn: https://tinyl.io/7vzy

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #BlackMastodon #History #Olympics #FDR

"Running Against the World"

The 1936 Summer Olympics were unlike any other. In Berlin, Germany, under the shadow of Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, an African-American track and field athlete rose to stardom: Jesse Ow...

WHHA (en-US)
Show threadKangaroo Care:Feb 22, 2023

@QasimRashid I didn't know that but I guess it's too be expected.

After both WWI and WWII #FirstNations soldiers who had served the Brit #invaders as soldiers in defence of their own land, returned to Australia with their white "colleagues" who had treated them as colleagues in #battle but once back here on invaded soil those same white fellas went back to treating them as filth which in many country areas still happens today.

They were not allowed to join the RSL for example

Show threadMamaBodesFeb 23, 2023
@WarregoCarer @QasimRashid I hate that this is true😩
Show threadKangaroo Care:Feb 23, 2023
@lynetteB @QasimRashid thank you and I agree completely.
Individuals change things as they go forward though. Small RSL groups in Queensland are using the Acknowledgement of country at the opening of meetings for example which is very new and doesn't appear to be a "woke" thing but rather an acceptance of the reality of the situation.
RSL groups are generally older men who have served in the military.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKFeb 23, 2023
@WarregoCarer @QasimRashid one of the reasons there is a strong Soul/RnB/disco influence in some German Schlager music, Dutch piratenhits and the playlists of local and community radio stations in Eastern England is many Black USA servicemen decided to remain in Northern Europe after WWII and the Cold War (well into 1960s), and settled and start families, as though there are issues with racism here, they were still far better treated than they would have been if returning to the USA...
Show threadKangaroo Care:Feb 23, 2023
@vfrmedia @QasimRashid or if they were in Australia it has to be added. Anyone here who believes on the weight of numbers that we aren't a racist state I believe, is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Show threadAgoraFeb 22, 2023
@QasimRashid no wonder white leaders don't want their kids learning about this disturbing history.
Show threadjackieFeb 22, 2023
@QasimRashiddoes anyone know why board of elections or secretary of state offices aren't suing election deniers for slander and/or libel?
Show threadwascaliwabbitFeb 22, 2023
@QasimRashid Not fully accurate; Owens visited the White House and received major awards in 72, 76, and 79.
Show threadMyMiloCat+MydogNoodlesFeb 22, 2023
@QasimRashid My uncle was on the US Army wrestling team in 1936. He was pulled from the 1936 team that went to Berlin because he was Jewish.
Show threadbendaFeb 22, 2023
@QasimRashid should we have expected better from a country that had Nazis seated in the Senate?
Show threadSane ThinkerFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Racism is, sadly, alive and well. I don't know FDR's views on race, but do know his policies lifted the country out of the Great Depression and beat back the oligarchy we see today. I would very much like to see your source for this sad indictment.
Show threadwilanderFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid Before boosting this, I wanted to check it. This is what I found:

“Archival documentation shows that Americans urged Roosevelt to welcome the track and field star at the White House, but that the president did not invite any athletes, regardless of race, to celebrate at the Executive Mansion.”

Source: https://www.whitehousehistory.org/running-against-the-world

"Running Against the World"

The 1936 Summer Olympics were unlike any other. In Berlin, Germany, under the shadow of Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, an African-American track and field athlete rose to stardom: Jesse Ow...

WHHA (en-US)
Show thread@stevewfoldsFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Knew an MKE bicyclist, b. 1912, who toured Europe and attended the ‘34 games. He was busted for trespassing on the Jagermeister’s estate, now Poland, and was served breakfast with Herman Goring. He’d pretended that he didn’t known German. He stole Hitler’s flag from von Hindenburg’s memorial and brought it home, Hermann Nunnemacher. He hated my guts for not marrying a younger sister, b. 1922.
Show threadSinnistergrinFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Jesse Owens is the greatest ever.
Show threadToxteth O'GradyFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid It took Obama to right that wrong...
Show threadMichael Smith🚎Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid While the treatment of Jesse Owens is very important, your post is unfortunately disinformation. 1) Hitler didn’t refuse to shake his hand. Instead, Hitler didn’t shake the hands of any American athlete, regardless of race; 2) Roosevelt didn’t invite any of the athletes to the White House, Black or White; 3) Owens was first invited to the White House in 1972, not 2016, and in 1976 Owens was awarded, at the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1980/04/01/olympic-track-great-jesse-owens-is-dead-at-66/51f3910e-2d63-4370-991c-151a7e86b076/
Olympic Track Great Jesse Owens Is Dead at 66

Washington Post
Show threadMark vWFeb 23, 2023
@SkibuSmith @[email protected] Thanks for the correction. Sorry I reposted that.
Show threadSueG In NJFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid 😯
Show threadNicklas K. HansenFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid I do think it isworse to be discriminated against by ones own leaders. However, the story with Hitler refusing to shake Owens’ hand at the Olympics is a bit of a myth. He did not. But Hitler did not shake hands with most other Olympic winners, either. Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/was-jesse-owens-snubbed-by-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics
Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics? | Britannica

Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?

Encyclopedia Britannica
Show threadmav Feb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid so yeah this is interesting, apparently Roosevelt didn't invite any Olympic athletes from that year to the White House. While Owens's quote is accurate, it seems to have been taken to mean things that it wasn't.

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/running-against-the-world

"Running Against the World"

The 1936 Summer Olympics were unlike any other. In Berlin, Germany, under the shadow of Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, an African-American track and field athlete rose to stardom: Jesse Ow...

WHHA (en-US)
Show threadmav Feb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid in point of fact it looks as though he was asked to represent the US at the Olympics in 1956 by Eisenhower.

If I can figure this out in one article and 5 minutes...

Show threadTom in BrightonFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid
According to Whitehouse archives, FDR didn't invite any Olympians, black or white. Can you provide a source?
Show threadJon SparksFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid I didn’t know that, how shameful.
Show threadsyzygyFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid maybe you’d like to respond to folks who claim, with sources, that your post is largely misleading? Maybe you’d like to edit your post to set the record straight? Anyone can make a mistake, but you have the opportunity to correct your mistake here, or provide evidence to the contrary.
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Feb 23, 2023
@syzygy it’s not misleading, at all. It’s accurate. https://www.britannica.com/story/was-jesse-owens-snubbed-by-adolf-hitler-at-the-berlin-olympics?fbclid=IwAR1EUn4x3o41X9DGRpesBCjsdcLKP0xJPZuu5JsaekG7WcFlRDP34JodpRw&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics? | Britannica

Was Jesse Owens Snubbed by Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?

Encyclopedia Britannica
Show threadVeadaFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Well, that's something not taught in school.
Show threadRiver J. HopkinsFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Definitely something I wasn't aware of! Holy shit, that's horrible.
Show threadCoach Pāṇini ®Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid wow
Show threadWidgett WallsFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid
Show threadWesDymFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid It's true that Hitler didn't shake his hand -- and let's be clear, Hitler was an awful human being, no matter what -- but Hitler didn't shake ANY athlete's hand that day, or for the rest of the Games. He did on the first day, but then Olympic officials advised him that it was inappropriate, due to the international nature of the event; he was just a spectator, like anyone else not competing.

Owens noted that in Germany, he wasn't subject to the racial segregation he was in the US.

Show threadgavinisdie Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid 😐
Show threadWesDymFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid Another issue is that D.C. was officially segregated at the time. While the President enjoys broad discretion in whom he may invite, it would have been logistically difficult -- and possibly embarrassing -- for Black athletes, especially for such a large delegation.

I'm not trying to let FDR off here; he certainly COULD have done it, if he'd really wanted to. But I'm unaware of evidence that he was racially biased.

Show threadGrahamFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid no one from that team was invited. Only path Roosevelt could go down. Was being pressed to invite entire team and publicly shake a Black man's hand so to dodge the controversy he didn't invite anybody.
Your spreading a myth.
Show threadDavidFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid It's illegal to to talk about this in Florida schools.
Show threadAyaFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid wow!!
Show threadMrShoggothFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid - Yeah that sounds about typical.
Show threadShield MaidenFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Let's not forget either that Mo Farah, who has won 4 Olympic Gold medals, was detained for hours and hours at an American airport when returning home there...because not only is he brown, but he's a muslim too. Absolutely disgusting.
Show threadmsgbiFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid @charles_ex @Ginger149 @aloa5
Show threadDetlef SteuerFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Wow. Did not know that. Depressing. Thx!
Show threadStephenCFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid The Australian athlete who stood by then was hounded out of the Olympic community.
Show threadMcNullaFeb 24, 2023

@QasimRashid
I saw something similar on Twitter from @domo@twitter

https://twitter.com/dapperdomo/status/1627667286222942214?s=46&t=na_TLo9UtkoHiqebrPlA1g

Domo on Twitter

“A lot is reported about how Hitler wouldn’t shake Jesse Owens hand after the Olympics but Owens also wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either. I think that an excellent microcosm of how history is taught in America.”

Twitter
Show threadCa_DreFeb 25, 2023
@QasimRashid
Exactly…
But not only America… just last year…the military processional for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral find any face of color in a diverse nation representing the people…same in the people lined up to watch in the first line along the streets
Show threadGrumpy Grimnir Feb 28, 2023
@QasimRashid Hitler only shook the hands of German athletes that were presented to him. At least two athletes (Turkish) refused to be presented to Hitler as a mark of protest about Hitler's treatment of Jews.
Show threadZTMar 1, 2023
@QasimRashid When did black Olympians who represented the US first got an invite to the White House, since 1936?